


A Winter's Crest Miracle

by dementorsatemysoup



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Beau Might Have A Crush On Jester, But only a little, Family Feels, Fluff, Friendship, Mildly Dubious Consent, Mischief, Mistletoe, Multi, Platonic Kisses, Platonic Relationships, Pre-Relationship, okay maybe a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 01:31:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17132486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dementorsatemysoup/pseuds/dementorsatemysoup
Summary: Jester buys a sprig of mistletoe and mischief follows





	A Winter's Crest Miracle

**Author's Note:**

> I had so many things I wanted to do tonight but instead I decided to write this. So yeah. This doesn't fit into the narrative at all, not even close, but I wanted to write a holiday story so here we are.
> 
> Thank you for reading, drop me a comment if you can, and happy holidays!
> 
> Bye!!

No one knew about the mistletoe until days later. Jester had bought in on a whim from a little druidic shop; partially in hopes that Fjord might kiss her, but mostly because she wanted to kiss as many of The Mighty Nein as she could (plus she really wanted to see Caleb blush again).

She hung it up in the doorway of her’s and Beau’s room, grinning mischievously when Beau looked up and saw it hanging above them late one morning. She rolled her eyes, shaking her head, but Jester saw the half-concealed smile on Beau’s face when she bent forward and softly kissed the corner of her mouth.

“Got you,” Jester said cheerfully, skipping out of the room.

“Yep,” Beau called after her, sounding almost wistful. “I guess you did.”

Later that day, while helping Nott carry a pile of incense she bought for Caleb to their room, Jester had forgotten about the mistletoe. Nott was the one to point it out, narrowing her eyes at it, and Jester grinned.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot about that!” She bent down, kissing the top of Nott’s head. “Happy Winter’s Crest!”

“That’s too many weeks away,” Nott complained, but her face had turned a darker green.

“I know!”

She got Caleb that night, holding the mistletoe above her head. He tried to dodge her, but Jester managed to kiss his cheek. His face turned a brilliant red and he grumbled something under his breath in Zemnian, shuffling away from her to sit next to Fjord.

“He’s as red as a tomato,” Beau exclaimed, and Caleb buried his face in a book, his forehead turning an even deeper red.

She managed to catch Fjord the next morning, kissing him smack dab in the middle of his forehead when he dutifully bent down, and he walked away rubbing the back of his deeply green neck.

Cad graciously accepted a kiss on the cheek when he ran into Jester in the hallway, informing her about how some types of mistletoe are dangerous, but he’d spoken to this sprig and it told him it had no intention of hurting them.

After that, they left the little inn they were staying at, riding south out of town. Jester kept the mistletoe tucked into her bag, wondering if Yasha might like it for her book when they saw her next, and once again forgot about it until several days later when they stopped at some dilapidated tavern for the night.

She found it buried at the bottom of her haversack, crushed by the dodecahedron. She pulled it free, attempting to fix the broken leaves, and showed it to Beau, who’d been getting ready for bed.

“Do you think we can get the others to kiss each other?” she asked, staring thoughtfully at the sprig in her hand, her lips turning up in a playful smile.

“Jes, no offense, but I’m not sure Caleb would willingly kiss any of us. Nott might do it if she’s drunk enough, and possibly Fjord but we’ve never actually seen him that shitfaced so who knows. As for me, I like the guys, I do, but I wouldn’t kiss any of them even if you paid me a 100 gold.”

“Really?”

Beau thought about it for a moment before shrugging. “Okay, maybe I’d do it for a 100 gold, but it’d be out of spite. Spite money is better than no money.”

Jester nodded, distracted, still staring at the sprig in her hand. She heard Beau sigh, looking up to see the monk watching her, one hand on her hip, her face twisted in indecision. She waited a beat, knowing she was wearing Beau down, and did a little dance when Beau grinned and said, “Alright, let’s do it!”

Just as Beau predicted, with enough alcohol in her system, Nott took the mistletoe from Jester and ran around to every member of The Mighty Nein, kissing them on their noses or their cheeks. She saved Caleb for last, claiming him as her boy, and hopped up onto the table to kiss him on the top of his head.

“And don’t you forget that!” she exclaimed before passing out on the table, the mistletoe lying abandoned next to her head.

Jester tried for days to get the guys on board, but it’d proven to be difficult. Again, like Beau predicated, Caleb wasn’t going to kiss anyone. He even started avoiding Jester whenever he saw her in fear that she’d have the mistletoe with her (she usually did). Fjord blushed deeply, stammering about not wanting to encroach on anyone’s personal space, and quickly hightailed it out of the room before Jester could say anything else. Even Cad, who Jester thought would be open to the idea, turned a faint pink when she suggested he take the mistletoe for a while and kindly turned her down

Frustrated, she turned to Beau, who shrugged and said, “Maybe you’ll get a Winter’s Crest miracle.”

Disappointed, Jester nodded. “Maybe.”

For fun, she bought a purple hat from a nearby secondhand store and fashioned the sprig onto it. She called it her Mistletoe Hat Of Funsies, and shoved it on to Cad’s head the night before Winter’s Crest, grinning at him.

“You are the tallest after all,” she said brightly, nodding in satisfaction.

“I like the color,” he said with a cheery smile, “but I’m not kissing anyone unless they ask first or they tell me it’s okay.”

“That’s fine!” Jester smiled at him, fixing the hat. “Can I kiss your cheek?”

“Yes.”

Jester pecked him on the cheek and skipped towards the bar, ordering a glass of milk and the closest thing to tea the tavern supplied. She carried the drinks back to their table, watching as Nott, tipsy at this point, kissed Cad on the nose.

“You’re my boy, too!” she exclaimed, much like she did with Caleb, “But I love Caleb more!”

“Understandable,” Cad responded with a knowing smile.

Beau drank a little too much, leaning heavily on the table, and grinned at Cad. She pointed at the hat and asked, “Can I have that?”

“Certainly.” Cad removed the hat, handing it over to Beau, and smiled when she shoved it on to her head.

“Do I look cool?” she asked Fjord.

“The coolest,” he replied with an amused huff.

“Would you give me 100 gold to kiss you?”

“I think sober you would murder me in my sleep. So no.”

“Fuck.”

Beau wore the hat for most of the night, but when she stood up to go to bed, reaching out to steady herself on the table, she pulled it off and dropped it on to Caleb’s head.

With an ungraceful salute, she told them goodnight and stumbled upstairs. Nott and Fjord got up shortly after, following her up the stairs, and Jester turned to look at her remaining friends, watching as Caleb pulled the hat off and placed it on the table.

“The hat looked really good on you, Caleb,” Jester teased.

“Purple isn’t really my color,” he grumbled looking down into his mug. “It looked better on Mister Clay.”

“I do like it.” Cad picked up the hat, putting it back on his head. “If I have some time, I might mount some beetle wings on this.”

“Can I make them!”

Cad smiled, nodding. “Sure.

“I’m going to get my paints now!” Jester jumped up, hurrying up the stairs. She’s careful not to wake Beau, dragging her paint set from her haversack, and quickly returned to the table only to stop just out of earshot, watching curiously as Caleb and Cad talked quietly to each other.

Cad took the hat off his head, putting it delicately back on Caleb’s, and smiled fondly at him, murmuring something to him that made amusement flicker in the wizard’s eyes. He leaned forward, said something else, and when Caleb nodded gently kissed the side of his head.

Jester crept forward, listening carefully to the next part of their conversation.

“It seems I’ve had too much to drink, Mister Clay,” Caleb said in a low voice, taking the hat off his head and setting it on the table.

“Perhaps you have,” Cad relented with a dip of his head, his cheeks pink.

“I think I will go to bed now.”

“That might be a good idea. Good night, Mister Caleb.”

“Good night, Mister Clay.”

Caleb stood, staggering a bit, and shuffled towards the stairs, smiling at Jester as he walked past her. Jester returned the smile, turning to make sure he actually made it upstairs, and once she’s sure he didn’t face plant she looked over at Cad, staring wistfully at the table.

Paint set forgotten for the moment, Jester sat at the table and whispered, “Do you  _like_ Caleb, Caduceus?”

“What?” Surprised, Cad looked up from the table, tilting his head, confused. "I like him fine. He has the potential to be a good friend."

"Yes, but that's not what I mean. Do you like, I don't know, wanna go on dates with him and hold his hand and kiss him and stuff? You know, _like-like_ _."_

“I-” he trailed off, sitting back and tapping his chin thoughtfully. “I don’t know. I've never liked anyone like that before.”

“I think you do.”

Cad was quiet for a full minute before shrugging. “I’ll take your word for it.” As his gaze drifted towards the stairs, Jester wondered if she should say something else, help Cad realize his feelings.

She decided against it for now, putting her paints on the table, and started to work on his beetle wings instead.

Beau had been right again. She did get a Winter’s Crest miracle.


End file.
